Javier Milei Wants to Dollarize Argentina. What Does That Really Mean? : Planet Money : NPR

Argentina has been seeking economic stability for decades, but it always seems just out of reach. High inflation has plagued the country, with annual inflation running at just over 160%.

The local currency has depreciated significantly over the past few years. In 2018, the dollar was worth 20 Argentine pesos. Today, the dollar is worth 1,000 pesos on the black market. This means that for Argentines, the real price of everything from groceries to gasoline has increased significantly.

In a country where the value of its currency has plummeted, a promise to replace it with the dollar might seem like a magical solution.

Argentina’s new president, Javier Milley, won in part because he promised to do just that. Dollarization. Abolish the Argentine Peso and replace it with the relatively stable, predictable, boring U.S. dollar.

In today’s show, what does dollarization mean? Why do we need dollarization? How do we achieve dollarization? Does dollarization work?

More information:

This episode was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler, with assistance from Dave Blanchard and Willa Rubin. Editing was by Jess Jiang. Design was by Neisha Heinis, and fact-checking was by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is an executive producer for Planet Money.

Subscribe to Planet Money+ to help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes In Apple Podcasts or plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

These links are always free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR App Or wherever you get your podcasts.

Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / Tik Tok / We Weekly communication.

Music: Universal Productions Music – “Preguica”, “Mi Milonga” and “Sin Ti”